Louise’s Comments (group member since Aug 29, 2015)

Louise’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Volunteering for DQs Team Circe

Jenn wrote: "I have some small 100 ish page books. Do we want to count them at this point in time?"

Yes please, we can always move them later

Happy Saturday everyone not got much reading done today me and my BF had a makeover and photoshoot experience which took longer than expected. We thoroughly enjoyed the day though.

I’ll get some weekly stats up in the morning. Take a look over our monsters above. Each monster has a list of task which can be filled with upto 5 books. There is no limit to the number of monsters we can defeat in this mini

The Witch's Heart questions assigned


Chapter Breakdown


Date Start / End quote MPDQs
16 Jun Judith (Pan)
"... a promise she knew that she couldn't keep." 21%
17 Jun Kaley (Ache)
"He stayed with her as the days ..."
"... given her daughter a new obsession" 40%
18 Jun Kerri (Circe)
"There came a day in laste summer..."
"Angrboda agreed." 62%
19 Jun Alison (Cass)
"Angrboda was redjusting her pack basket..."
"Angrboda couldn't argue with that." 81%
20 Jun Lynne (Helen)
"With Skadi gone, ...

@Robin please add Harlem Shuffle to your shelf.

@Jax please check the page count on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay your tracked book has a different page count to the one shelved.

We are a quarter of the way through the challenge and are doing well.

There is still time to participate in the BOM for The Travelling Cat Chronicles you have until 6/16 to answer 3 days of DQs for the BOM points.

Don't forget to keep checking the maze thread to see if you're book fits the prompts. We will be posting prompts in the thread also.

DQs Day 3: Chap 20-29

10. Beth's house has seemed important from the beginning of the story and there have been a lot of descriptions of the "Frankenstein ugly" house. During one of Shea's interviews Beth told her to go upstairs and see her childhood bedroom and then she said, "Not all of the answers you want so desperately are going to come from me. Some of them are going to come from this house." What do you think Shea learned from the house when she perused Beth's room?

I think she realised Beth had a lonely childhood and hadn’t moved on from past events

11. We now have a better insight into the note that was left at the murder scene that said, in part, Am I bitter or am I sweet? In this section we got a lot of details about how this "bitter/sweet" was played out in the house with Mariana and the two girls. Lily also told Beth that everything was her fault and she could have stopped it. What do you think the note will reveal about the murderer and how do you think Beth could've stopped it or could she have?

I think Lily’s upbringing gave her the skill set to manipulate people. Lily knows Beth has no friends and has used that to manipulate her into believing she has no choice.

12. Julian's treatment of Lily is rather atrocious, especially considering how young she is when she first visits them. Why do you think he hates her so much and who do you suspect Lily's father is? (I have only read through chapter 29 for my questions, so I don't even know if that is revealed. Just curious what others are thinking about the situation.)

Julian has only just learned of Lily existence. I wouldn’t say he hates her, but she is a reminder of a secret his wife didn’t tell him of which has destroyed any trust in their marriage. I suspect some of the papers he “inherited” included a clause that trapped him in the marriage. Not sure who the father is possibly one of the two murdered men.

13. Lily told Beth she wanted a lot of things, including the house. Beth told Lily she hated the house to which Lily said, "That's because you don't understand it...It's an abomination that shouldn't exist...It's exactly like me." What do you think she meant by this?
She was born outside of wedlock and was effectively abandoned to a system that would have shown very little love to her.

14. Lily appears to have more power in the relationship between her and Beth, but based on Beth's current day ability to manipulate others, do you think Lily really is the more powerful one in their relationship? Why or why not?
I think Lily has more power, Beth’s power comes from Lily and she fears that if she stood up to Lily she would lose that power

Maze Move
Anyone close to finishing a book that works for:

Task: Read a book shelved (listed on the first page on GR) as england - plurals and spelling acceptable

Direction*
East (Even Number of Pages)
South (Title starts with N-Z)

Good morning all. I’m back home and my reading is back on track. Made some progress on The Book of Cold Cases and started The Illness Lesson on audio which I should have finished today. Then going to start The Night Circus on audio. I’ve also started Murder at Irish Mensa for another challenge which will take me a day or two.

@Vicky hope you’re feeling better soon.

BOM Mod takeover The Master and Margarita starts today. I have this on audio and kindle so will likely flip between the two.

As you may have noticed maze prompts are being posted here. If you are close to finishing a book that meets the prompt do head over to our maze thread.

DQ Day 2: Chap 12-19

5. Shea is trying to explain the taps being turned on and the cupboards being opened by themselves through telekinesis. If you had experienced what she did, do you think you would have tried to explain things logically or do you think you would have believed it was ghosts and left it at that?.

I would initially try and find a logical explanation but would probably realize ghosts were involved

6. After getting a cat, Shea calls on Michael to ask for advice on how to care for it, through the conversation she thinks about wanting to meet him. Do you think they will end up together or perhaps just remain as friends? Could Michael be interested as well?
I do think they will end up together. They seem to have a lot in common and already have a relationship of sorts

7. Mr. Greer’s former secretary tells Shea Mrs. Greer wasn’t competent and that she was "sent away somewhere when she was eighteen". Do you think she was crazy or do you have any other theories?
My first thought about this was that she was sent away to a sanatorium because she was pregnant.

8. While listening to the recording of Beth’s interview Shea hears a voice in the background whispering “I am still here” and poor Winston gets spooked. Did you find this scary? Do you think cats/animals have a feel for the supernatural? If it were you, would you come back to the house after hearing that?
Animals do have a sense of the supernatural they can pick up signals that we overlook. I would go back, as I don’t get spooked easily, and I firmly believe that there is more to fear from the living than the dead.

9. Finally, in order to get in the mood for more scary stuff. Have you or someone you know have any scary/ghostly experiences you might like to share?
I have had my fair share of ghostly experiences they have never scared me. My late partner had a ghostly experience while working away, although it wasn’t until he was back home that he realised. He was working in this old stone cottage of a family friend, redecorating it so that the family could sell it. The cottage belonged to the grandparents and the grandmother had been put in a care home. As the cottage was in the middle of nowhere he was given permission to stay in the cottage. We would talk daily and he would relate incidents of seeing an old man walking past the window to the front of the cottage and when he’d go and check there would be no-one there; taps being turned on despite knowing he’d turned them off; walking up the stairs to an icy chill that the heaters couldn’t get rid of; waking up to turn lights on and nothing happening; going to use the bathroom in the night and it being pitch black with not even ambient light filtering through. The worst experience he had while he was there over 5 days was whilst he was decorating the staircase he would feel someone tug at his t-shirt while he was working. It wasn’t until he was home he realised that this was likely the grandfather (who had passed away in the cottage) trying to discourage him from changing the home that he and his wife had lived in all their married life.

Maze Move

Anyone nearly finished a book that fits:

Task: Read a book which has the main location (setting) as Europe

West (Odd number of pages)

Maze Move
Move 38
Task: Read a book written by an author who was born in Canada

Direction: South (Title starts with N-Z)

Simone St James is Canadian anyone nearly finished.

Our next maze move

Task: Read a book that is ranked 501-750 in bestsellers on book depository http://www.bookdepository.com/bestsel...

Direction*
East (Even Number of Pages)
South (Title starts with N-Z)


If you are close to finishing a book please check if it fits this task (pgs 17-25 of link) and head over to maze planning

Trinia wrote: "Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Trinia wrote: "I've got a question... I'm currently listening to which only has an audiobook version. It's a performance audio bas..."

We can use it as the audio is more than 3 hours. Pages are set at 100.

It was used in perks UNO challenge which has the same book requirements for audios

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Sorry to be a pain on the spreadsheet again, Captains, but I see I have been reset currently to 0 BOM Points on our spreadsheet. Looks like something is wrong with my name (red error code) where it..."

All fixed

Don’t forget to answer 3 days worth of DQs if you read a BOM and either link them here or on the spreadsheet. This will net us an extra 20 points.

Mod Takeover BOM
Chapter Breakdown

Date Start / End DQ poster
8 June Book 1 Jenny - Achilles
Never talk to strangers ->The Affair at Griboyedov

9 June Book 1 Judith - Pandora
The Haunted Flat - Enter the Hero

10 June Book 1 Melinda - Paris
Saved by Cock-Crow - Unwelcome visitors

BREAK DAY

12 June Book 2 Melissa - Agamemnon
Margarita -> Satan's Rout

13 June Book 2 Eldarwen - Hector
The Master is Released -> The Last of Flat No. 50

14 June Book 2 Suzanne - Electra
The Final Adventure of Koroviev and Behemoth - end

Thank you Vicky for posting the weekly update. We’ve spent a lovely if exhausting day in Camden today. Going to try and make some headway on The Book of Cold Cases before bed. We have another busy day ahead tomorrow with a visit to London Zoo and Regent’s Park.

DQs Day 1: Chap 1-11

1. Have you read the The Sun Down Motel by this author? If so, does it change your expectation for this book? Either way, what are your expectations for this book?
I read this for the BOM points last year and loved it. I have high hopes for this book.

2. The MC writes about cold cases and is in her late 20s and divorced. I have read quite a few horror/thriller/mystery books recently where the MC is a recently divorced, usually a bit older, woman. Have you experienced this as well? Why do you think authors might make this choice? Why do you think the choice was made for this book?

This is definitely a current trend away from the traditional male centred POV. I would imagine that authors and publishers are realising that their target audience has a high percentage of older women and what better way to be immersed in a story than by having a strong MC, with history that that can relate to.

3. This section includes the start of the interview. Did it go the way you expected? Any one comment really stick out to you?
I found this interesting with Beth and Shea sharing their story.

4. What do you think about the ghostly occurrences in this section? How do they add to the story (or maybe detract)?
This definitely sets the scene for what is to come.